Endless-bed sander



' Jan. 22,1929, h

P. A. SOLEM ENDLESS BED SANDER Original Filed Dec. 31, 1925 2 $heet5 5h'eet 1 Inventor W 71 Jan. 22, 1929. 1,699,764

P. A. SOLEM ENDLESS BED SANDER Original Filed Dec. 31, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvenior fizamw Patented Jan. 22, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER A. SOLEM, F ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

ENDLESS-BED SANDER.

Original application filed December 31, 1925,.Seria1 No. 78,512. Divided and this application filed January 8, 1928. Serial No. 244,111.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 78,512, filed December 31, 1925.

This invention has particular reference to conveyors although shown applied to sanding machines of the endless bed type which usually employ rotating sanding or abrading drums or cylinders.

In machines of the kind referred to, the

endless bed serves to feed the work to the of the work. It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide anti-friction bearings for the endless bed on the bed rails in the form of endless roller bearing chains which are independent of any connection with the feed bed or bed rails and are arranged to travel on the bed rails be tween the latter and the feed bed.

. The purport of the invention-will appear in the course of the following-detailed description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through a sander embodying my invention: and Figure 2 is an end view of the machine with a portion appearing in transverse verti cal section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, look ing in the direction of the arrows.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding partsin both views.

Insanding machines of the kind mentioned, a heavy base 3 is usually provided having rather heavy upright side frame pieces 4 and 5 extending therefrom and suitably fixed together in spaced relation. The frame pieces carry pressure bars 6 having smooth under faces for the passage therebeneath of the stock operated upon. The pressure bars are arranged on opposite sides and between abrading drums 7 mounted on shafts 8 received in bearings 9 arranged for vertieal adjustment in bosses 10 on the outside of the frame pieces 4 and 5. The drums are individuallyadjustable as to elevation by hand wheels'on the shafts 11 whichoperate jack screws 12 through the worm and gear connections shown at 13. The drums are driven individually by motors 14 which are controlled singly or collectively to give a one, two or threedrum machine, as desired, and so as to permit any one or more or all of the motors being started or stopped when required. Work is fed to the drums by an endless feed bed 15 which will be described more fully hereinafter. It will suffice at this point to state that the bed comprises a sprocket chain 16 meshing with a drive sprocket l7 and an idler sprocket 18 at opposite ends of the machine. The sprocket 17 is driven from a mam power shaft 19 through suitable transmission in the housings 20 and 21, the shaft 19 being coupled to or otherwise suitably driven by a motor supported on a. bracket at Y the side of the machine. The shaft is shown broken away and the motor referred to is not shown. Besides operating the bed, the shaft 19 has a belt connection (not shown) for driving the brushes 22 and 23 and has a gear ing connection (not shown) for driving a shaft 24: for operating the rocker arms or beams 25. The brush 22 cleans the stock passing out of the machine and the brush 23 keeps the endless bed clean- The rockerarms 25 communicate an osclllating or reciprocatory motionto the drums 7 through the thrust bearing connections 26 with the shafts 8. Each of the rocker arms 25 is pivoted intermediate the ends thereof, as shown at 27, on a link 28 pivoted to a bracket 29 fastened to the outside of the frame piece 5 and a counter balancing compression spring 30 acting between the bracket 29 and the link 28 serves to keep the rocker arm in floating rela-- tion to theprojecting end of the shaft 8 so that no weight is imposed thereon. This is with a View to avoiding the deflection of the projecting end of the shaft to eliminate any whipping action and consequent deflection. The shaft 241 has eccentrics thereon for rocking the arms 25 through link connections 31 at the lower ends of the rocker arms. Usually the firstdrum of the set is given simple rotation for the initial rough finishing out on the work. In the present case, the work entered "in the machine over the table 32 is roughed off by the first, drum it encounters. Theother two drums oscillate transversely while rotating and in this wayproduce a very smooth hereinafter.

The endless feed-bed -comprises -a p lurality oftransverse steel slats'33upon which traction pads"34 ofu'einforced rubber are secured. Each slat'33 isifastened to a link of'the heavy steel sprocket chain 16 andwhile a. single sprocket'chainmay be employed I prefer to provide'two chains near opposite :sides of the bed as shown inFig. 2. Thebed travlskbeneath the drums over rails 35 extending longitudinally in the machine. Four s irocket chains -operating therebetween. he rails 35 support the bed normally in a definite spaced relation tothe drums as de- "termined by the adjustment of thejack screws 36 whichraise and lowewthe bed and-rails =withthe carriage 37. Thelatter operates on vertical ways 38, providedon the inside ofthe frame. pieces 4nand 5. The fixed, spaced relation of the bed tothe drums determinesof course the depth of cut-tdbe madeby the -macliine. 'Grossbeams39 at opposite ends of the carriage 37 support the opposite ends of itherails 3-5 or compression springs 40. The latteract between the rails '35 and'lugs 41 on the beainsf39. and are-held inplace -by bolts :42 which operate; and are 'nided'for vertical :movementlin' holes 413 provided in the lugs 41. The. constructiondescribed provides a yieldingsnpport. forthe endless/feed bed which though:normzillyserving as a. rigid support tOhkGQP- the bed ina definite spaced relation ..-to l the drums will, nevertheless, ,yield in the event ofexcessive pressurebrought to bear byithe work ontheibed in case=too large a piece of work-is .fedintolthemachine, or in the "event-the work is of such an irregular rchiarac'ter as would cause a jam. It frequent- =lyoccurs that an inexperienced operator or one who iscareless orignorant will attempt 1' to feed work thinnghlthe. machine for which itzis notset iproperly'and the breakage of .gears in the transmission for driving theifeed bed or the destruction of other parts will follow where'no safety provision is madewas inrthe present case. The slats 33 are sufficientlly fiexible to be .bowedlinthe event a high spotlon the work should occur that would tend to cause a giving of the feedbed support at one pointto avoid jamming. The spacing laterally ofthe yieldahle supports will permit any one or more bed'rails to give individually to take care of the circumstance mentioned. Thevyielding bedconstruction is covered in the parent application above "re- Fill "rails are preferably provided with the displacement and: have vertical movement between angle irons 44 bolted on top of the cross beams-'39. The tops of the rails 35 are chan' neled toprovide tracks &5 extending lengthwise of themacliine for the reception of antifriction rollers 46. The latter are linked together in endless chains received in grooves 47Iin-theperiphery of drums48 mounted on the sameshafts with the sprockets 17 andl18 and between the latter. The chains areabsolately independent of any operatin connection-with eitherthe fed bed or thebed-rails.

Hence in theirtravl alongthebed railsibetween thelatter and thefeed bed the chains will travel in the same direction .asthe feed bed'but at a slower speed. As a matter of :fact these chains will travel at approximately half the speed of the feed bed. The space between centers of adjacent rollers in the chain is less than the width (if any slat of the endless feed bed so lasto insure thel'oeat-ion of at leastt-wo or more rollers'under each slat in" the operation ofthefeed'bed. This makes for verysmootlt and easy running and the load imposed on the motor ffor ffeedin the work is of course substantiallyreduced and the machine is more economical tooperate. "The elimination dffricti'on between the feed bedand the bed rails avoids communication o'f an endwise thrust'onthe'bed rails and enables the yieldingbed" construction as above described.

It is believed'that the fore oingdescription conveys a: clear; understan' ing' df my'invention and ofthenulnerous'advantages derived therefrom. Itshouldbe apparent that whileI have shown" In .invention'asembodied in an endlessbed san er the type ofconveyor shown might be utilized for "otherpurposes or on dilferent kinds of machines. Allequivalent embodiments are therefore to be iconstrued as covered by the appen'ded"claims.

1 claim:

'1. A conveyor structure of I the :character described comprising a frame, an endlessifeed bedmounted 'onisaid fra1ne .aj lurality of. bed rails extending longitudin ly relative to the bed neath the one lap 1 thereof for the ranged to travel in the same" direction as the 9 feed bedbut' at a slower speed.

2. In a structure asset forthin'tlaim 1 wherein sprokets are provided on which the endless *feed bed is arranged to operateythe provision of drums mountedcoaxially with latter to operate upon, "and a jplurality 20f said sprockets and extending crosswise relative to the ends of the bed rails, said drums having annular grooves in the periphery thereof for the reception of the endless linked chains of rollers.

3. In a structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the endless feed bed is made up of hingedly connected cross slats, the provision of the endless linked roller chains having the links thereof of such length that the distance between the centers of adjacent rollers is less than the width of any slat for the purpose described.

4. A structure as set forth in claim 1 Where in the bed rails are grooved longitudinally to provide tracks for the reception of said chains, the grooves being of such depth that the rollers when received therein project substantially above the plane of the top of the rails.

5. A structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bed rails are yieldingly supported and placed at the edges of the bed and also on an intermediate line or lines, and wherein the endless feed bed is made up of hingedly con nected cross slats supported in said bed rails and of such relatively yie dable resilient material as to bend between the rails under a force less than that necessary to deflect the adjacent rail whereby the slats are ar- 5 ranged individually to yield at any given a supporting frame, an endless conveyor belt 'inounted for operation on said frame, one or more bed rails supported on said frame beneath one lap of said belt to support the same for operation, said rails being arranged extending inthe line of travel of said belt and one or more endless linked chains of rollers arranged inside the endless conveyor belt to travel along the bed rails between the latter and the belt, said roller chains being independent of any positive operating connection with either the bed rails or the belt substantially as and for the purpose described.

In Witness of the foregoing I aiiix my sig- 

